With 25 years of culinary experience, Chef Gillespie leads the team here at the Herrington Inn, Banquets and Atwater's.   Here at the Herrington Inn we strive to bring current trends as well as the classics into our menus and source local products as often as we can.  We pride ourselves on bringing the freshest quality ingredients in on a daily basis.  From our dry aged beef to our no chemical poultry and wild caught seafood we bring seasonally fresh ingredients to the table.  I’ve grown up in this area and lived here for over 35 years.  Being local I have had the opportunity to cultivate many great relationships with local farmers as well as local business owners in the area.  This has afforded me the opportunity to support local and bring some of the freshest ingredients onto our menus.  I work closely with my dedicated staff of culinary professionals to create unique dishes that reflect the season.  We offer many gluten free options as well as take our customers dietary needs very seriously.  I am very passionate about serving healthy and locally sourced ingredients and I feel it is the only way to truly appreciate good food.  

My love for food started at a very young age watching my grandmother cook every single day.  Being Italian helped to evolve me to the style I cook today.  Yearning to learn more, I attended the College of DuPage receiving a culinary arts degree and I trained under numerous great chefs which expanded my knowledge of cuisine immensely. Having vast knowledge of butchering and numerous cooking techniques, I applied those skills at many hotels and restaurants before starting at Atwater's.  When people ask what my goals are as a chef, one thing always comes to mind.  "Its very simple.... to serve excellent food".  Each dish on the menu is carefully thought out and has its own theme.  By sourcing local market fresh ingredients, we are giving our guests a variety of excellent dishes to choose from.